Double map App - Usability Evaluation
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The document outlines a usability study focused on the DoubleMap app, a real-time GPS bus tracking system designed for university campuses, corporate entities, and hospitals. Key findings highlight user struggles with certain features, such as a case-sensitive search box and inconsistent alert functionality, along with user suggestions for improvements like push notifications and instructional overlays. Recommendations include enhancing usability through design changes and conducting further usability testing to ensure compliance and accessibility.
Double map App - Usability Evaluation
- 1. Aziz | Pratik | Pushkar | Kartik Usability Study DoubleMap
- 2. Agenda • Product and Study Overview • Target Users, Tasks and Environment • Competitive Analysis • Usability Testing Methodology • Summary of Findings • Recommendations • Conclusions • References
- 3. Double Map Overview • DoubleMap is a real-time GPS bus tracking system. • Designed to track shuttle services within the campus. • Campus can vary from universities, corporate companies, hospitals and airports. Features • View buses in real time on the map. • View specific routes and associated stops. • View your current location if GPS is enabled. • View current bus system related announcements such as delays and re- routing. Study Objectives • Asses the ease and intuitiveness of Double Map mobile and web app. • Find features which users easily learn. • Find points in the app where users struggle. • Determine opportunities for design improvements. Product and Study Overview
- 4. It is a publicly accessible mobile and web application. Target Users Primary users: • University students/staff. • Corporate/company employees. • Hospital staff. • Airports and Municipal Transit users. Secondary users: • Bus drivers. • Campus administrators. http://belicosa.com.br/novo/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/1411124517637.png
- 5. • Track exact location of a bus in real-time. • Receive estimated time of arrival (ETA). • Improve travel efficiency by reducing wait-times at bus stops. • Save money on printed bus schedules. • To get updated on service disruptions at certain bus routes (if any) • Hassle-free and intuitive transit experience. User Goals
- 6. Landing Screen Click Select System Type or Scroll system Click Select Route Enable desired routes See selected route Click your stop See stops on your route See bus detailsSee selected route User Tasks
- 7. Can be any outdoor or indoor locations • Airport. • University campus. • Corporate complexes. • Home. • Restaurant. • Park. User Environment
- 8. Competitive Analysis RideCell TransLoc Rider Double Map Has Web Application Push Notification alert for specific stop Inspiration: TransLoc Rider app provides a feature where the user can request an alert on certain bus stop so that he receives push notification if a bus is certain minutes away from the stop. This is a good to have feature and can be implemented in DoubleMap.
- 9. Usability Testing Methods Cognitive Walkthrough Contextual inquiry and interviews Heuristic evaluation
- 10. Cognitive Walkthrough Our team members did following tasks: http://www.userfocus.co.uk/articles/cogwalk.html http://www.clipartbest.com/cliparts/niB/B45/niBB45R9T.gif Changing campus/routes Select a campus and route to a particular location. Add stops to favorite list. Learning the status of the Bus. Write feedback 1 2 3 4 5
- 11. • Will the user realistically be trying to do this action? • Is the control for the action visible? • Is there a strong link between the control and the action? • Is feedback appropriate? Questions we asked ourselves..
- 12. Key Findings from Cognitive Walkthrough Search box is case sensitive GPS detection on mobile browser ‘Show all Bus stops’ hyperlink Routes list – check box and toggle buttons
- 13. Contextual Inquiry and Interviews Contextual interviewing offered deep insight into how users actually use Double Map.
- 14. Observation data The graph represents the time taken by the users to complete each task.
- 15. Participant user comments “I want my favorite stops to be highlighted and I should get push notifications for that stop.” “App layout is simple to understand and I like the real time bus icons moving.” “I used the app for the first time today, it would have helped to find things quickly if I was given tutorial arrows on screen.” “Everything is great about the app just include push notifications on timely basis for particular stops or bus.”
- 16. Heuristic Evaluation A heuristic evaluation is a method that helps identify usability problems in the design by measuring the interface against recognized heuristics. (abridge from Wikipedia)
- 17. Search box for finding locations/campus Findings: • Search box text is case sensitive. • If the user doesn’t know the name of the campus, he/she wouldn’t know what to search. Consider: • Give freedom to users by allowing them to search whatever they wish. • Provide auto suggestion/completion as the user types in search box. Search ‘IU’ Search ‘Iu’ Heuristic: Error prevention, Match between system and the real world
- 18. Alerts functionality across transit systems Findings: • For different transit systems and campuses, the alert feature is inconsistent. • For example, for the Bloomington Transit System, we could find an extra Alerts menu item which is not present in the IUPUI system. Consider: • Keeping alerts functionality consistent for all transit systems. • If the particular feature is not supported for any other transit type, then the application should specify why they aren’t providing alerts for that system. IUPUI Campus Bloomington Campus Heuristic: Consistency and standards
- 19. Help, tutorial and instructional overlay Findings: • It is bit difficult for the new users to navigate through the app to find campus, routes, and own location. • We encountered this while observing participants who used the app for first time. Consider: • Web application already has instructional overlays. Its only a matter of implementing them on mobile applicationDouble Map web application on browser Heuristic: Help and documentation
- 20. Enable GPS button Findings: • If the phone’s GPS is not active, then clicking on the GPS icon does not do anything as shown in screen 1. • With no feedback or message the user is left confused as to what went wrong with his action. Consider: • Notifying user that GPS is disabled and should be instructed to activate GPS service to locate himself on the map as shown in screen 2. Screen 1 Screen 2 Heuristic: Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
- 22. Recommendation for design Push Notifications. • Notify user when next bus will arrive at his/her favorite stop. • Notification can be based on day/time requested by the user. Favorite stops list in Double Map
- 23. Recommendation for design Help tutorial and instruction overlay. Image source: https://in.pinterest.com/toaruC/uicoach-mark/ Double Map app landing screen without instruction overlay Foursquare app landing screen with instruction overlay.
- 24. Recommendation for design Search campus can be done using the user’s location. Current location search in Double Map Current location search in Uber
- 25. We plan to test the following things in our upcoming Usability test. • Test how DoubleMap is compliant with the American Disabilities Act (ADA) through features like Automated Vehicle Announcements (AVA) and customer-facing features for colorblind users. • Test text message notifications for users who do not have a smartphone. • Test Double Map for secondary users like drivers and administrators. Upcoming Usability test
- 26. Overall impression • Double Map does an effective job of creating a good impression for users by doing following things: • Real time display of bus locations. • Provide timely announcements about the service to the users. • Display accurate estimated arrival times of the buses for each route. • Display of toast messages(light pop up boxes) after every user action. • Intuitive and minimal design - Its easier for user to remember the task flow. • Double Map can improve their usability by following the recommendations.
- 27. The real goal of usability study is not just document the weakness.. Its to improve the design!
- 28. 1. Suggest DoubleMap developers to implement improvements on high severity findings, most notably: • Search box for finding campus/system. • Instructional overlays for first time user. • Consistent alerts across all transit systems. • Enabling GPS location. 2. Run another usability study to test all the changes. Next Steps
- 29. References • Nielsen Norman Group • UX Magazine • Smashing Magazine • Measuring the user experience - Tom Tullis
- 30. Thank You